AMD: Console Sales To Peak In 2016, With Current Generation Bowing Out In 2019

AMD has some great news for both Microsoft and Sony as well as the legion of developers that produce content for their respective consoles: record sales can be expected in 2016. That also bodes well for AMD itself, since it produces the CPU and graphics chip (APU) that grace both consoles. The company is also intent on being the sole CPU/GPU vendor in the next generation of consoles, which it says we could see in 2019.

While the next generation of consoles is still quite a ways off, one thing to look forward to is the fact that AMD claims the units will offer 5x the performance-per-watt of current generation systems. That doesn't necessarily mean that the consoles will have 5x the performance, as either Microsoft or Sony could opt for even slimmer designs that force them to use cut-down chips. 

With the next consoles from Microsoft and Sony expected in 2019, that means that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will enjoy being "current" for 7 years. That's one less year than what we saw with the Xbox 360, and identical to what the PlayStation 3 saw.

Of course, just because a new generation of consoles come out, it doesn't mean the previous one gets left in the dark. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 still enjoy regular game releases, although things are beginning to slow down.

Nonetheless, there are a few questions raised about the next-gen units. With a 5x perf-per-watt increase, could it mean that we might see some titles running at 4K? Even if that doesn't happen, it's impressive to picture a 500% performance boost over what we currently see with the PS4 and Xbox One, especially since the chip size, and likewise console size, should remain effectively the same.